The Wild Ways    by Tanya Huff Order:  USA  Can Daw, 2011 (2011) Hardcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson Tanya Huff's The Wild Ways is the sequel to The Enchantment Emporium, an urban fantasy that intoduced the witchy, close-knit Gale family, ruled with iron fists (for the good of the clan) by the magically powerful aunties. In the first book, Catherine Gale, one of the aunties and a Wild Power, ruthlessly manipulated her granddaughter, Alysha Catherine Gale, into taking over responsibility for her enchantment emporium in Calgary, Alberta. There Allie fell for and married blue-eyed journalist/assassin Graham, defeated a sorceror who'd gone to the dark side and a big bad from the UnderRealm. and adopted Jack, a teen Dragon Lord who is also a Gale. She also crossed into the second circle and came into her powers. Allie likes to keep those she loves close, including her musician cousin Charlie (Charlotte Marie Gale), who is a Wild Power like Catherine Gale. Now Allie's gran is pulling strings to force Charlie out of her comfort zone and into her full talents. Catherine is helping oil executive Amelia Carlson obtain support to win 'rights to one of the biggest fields in the North Atlantic' by stealing selkie skins (the selkie community is a wealthy and influential one). The Selkies oppose the drilling operation because it's near their seal rookery. Amelia Carlson's executive assistant, Paul Belleveau, hides the skins deep in an old mine. Charlie is drawn to Cape Breton (as a member of an old friend's band) for the summer music festival. Jack joins her there so that she can 'teach him how to be a Gale who colors outside the lines.' Since one of the band members is a selkie's partner, 'and the band is a family', Charlie decides to get the skins back, opposing Catherine 'who's not a nice person.' Though she finally tracks them down to the mine, she finds there's a lot more under the earth than seal skins - it's dark and powerful and it almost kills her. She does 'What has to be done' and, with a little help from Jack, prevents the end of the world. As always, Tanya Huff offers magical entertainment, with a strong dose of humor, in The Wild Ways. I can't wait to see which Gale she features next - perhaps Jack or Charlie's twin siblings hunting vampires in Paris? Whoever it is, it will be great fun! Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Fantasy books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews